"Calm and reasonable and a bit boring": Rowan Moore reviews London’s new U.S. embassy

<img srcset="https://archinect.imgix.net/uploads/1y/1yo9x7il4l9c7u3k.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&w=650 1x,https://archinect.imgix.net/uploads/1y/1yo9x7il4l9c7u3k.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&w=650&dpr=2 2x, https://archinect.imgix.net/uploads/1y/1yo9x7il4l9c7u3k.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&w=650&dpr=3 3x" src="https://archinect.imgix.net/uploads/1y/1yo9x7il4l9c7u3k.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&w=650" border="0" title="" alt="" width="650" height="" /><em><p>London&rsquo;s new US embassy may be just a glass cube with disguised fortifications, but it is also restrained, efficient, green&hellip; the antithesis of Donald Trump [...]

It’s a fortress, of course it is. As the embassy of the Great Satan to the Little Satan – as the unlamented Ayatollah Khomeini would have put it – it couldn’t not be a target and defended accordingly. The architects therefore decided to make it as nice a fortress as possible [...].

The new embassy in Battersea Nine Elms seen from across the river Thames. Image via Wikipedia.

SeriouslyArchitecture is curated by Keith Teare. The top architecture blogs are monitored. It is intended as a convenience for those who want to monitor the ever-changing world of architecture and design - both in terms of the people and the ideas underlying their activities.
For more information see http://s.erious.ly or chat with me live through chat.center at chat.center/kteare